"Will you please to tell me about it ?"

"He says, 'We arrived at the wretched solitary village of Utko, near the muddy shore of the lake of that name, the entrance to which is called Maadie. Here we procured asses for all our party; and, setting out for Rosetta, began to recross the Desert, appearing like an ocean of sand, but flatter and firmer as to its surface than before. The Arabs, uttering their harsh guttural language, ran chattering by the side of our asses; until some of them calling out, Raschid!' (or, Rosetta), we perceived its domes and turrets, apparently upon the opposite side of an immense lake or sea, that covered all the intervening space between us and the city. Not having in my own mind at the time any doubt as to the certainty of its being water, and seeing the tall minarets and buildings of Rosetta, with all its groves of dates and sycamores, as perfectly reflected by it as by a mirror, insomuch that even the minutest detail of the architecture, and the trees, might have been thence delineated, I applied to the Arabs to be informed in what manner we were to pass the water. Our interpreter, although a Greek, and, therefore, likely to have been informed of such a spectacle, was as fully convinced as any of us, that we

Repeat Dr. Clarke's account of the Mirage.

were drawing near to the water's edge, and became indignant, when the Arabs maintained, that within an

6

hour we should reach Rosetia, by crossing the sands in the direct line we then pursued, and that there was no water. "What!' said he, giving way to his impatience, do you suppose me an idiot, to be persuaded contrary to the evidence of my senses?' The Arabs, smiling, soon pacified him, and completely astonished the whole party, by desiring us to look back at the Desert we had already passed, where we beheld a precisely similar appearance. It was, in fact, the mirage, a prodigy to which every one of us were then strangers; although it afterwards became more famil

iar. Yet, upon no future occasion did we ever behold this extraordinary illusion so marvellously displayed. The view of it afforded us ideas of the horrible despondency to which travellers must sometimes be exposed, who, in traversing the interminable Desert, destitute of water, and perishing with thirst, have sometimes. this deceitful prospect before their eyes.""

"This is a pretty account; but what did Isaiah mean, when he said, 'that the glowing sands should become a pool ?'"

"I always like, Harry, to hear you inquire after the meaning of things. The prophet was speaking of the blessings which should result from the coming of Messiah. Then, he says;

The desert and the waste shall be glad ;
And the wilderness shall rejoice and flourish ;
Like the rose shall it beautifully flourish;
Then shall be unclosed the eyes of the blind;
And the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
Then shall the lame bound like the hart ;

And the tongue of the dumb shall sing;

For in the wilderness shall burst forth waters,

And torrents in the desert:

And the GLOWING SAND shall become a pool."*

Repeat Lowth's version of Isaiah.

*Lowth's Version.

"That is, the very mirage shall not only seem water, but shall actually become so, and refresh the people who pass by it: or, without any figure, that, in consequence of the coming and work of Messiah, there should be, even among the lowest and degraded of our race, an astonishing plenitude of blessings; and these glorious predictions shall assuredly be accomplished."

"You remind me, father, of The Messiah,' which you gave me to learn not long since." "The subject, Harry, is the same. saying

Who can help

Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!
Exalt thy towering head, and lift thine eyes!
See! a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See! future sons and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies !
See! Heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in the flood of day !'"

What is the meaning of the version? Repeat some lines from the Messiah.

THE SIMOOM.

"HAVING noticed the Mirage, I will mention the Simoom, so common in the East. Isaiah represents the Almighty as saying, in reference to the army of Sennacherib, 'I will send a blast upon it.' It is supposed, by many, that it was destroyed by this fierce pestilential wind. It is often instantaneously fatal. A traveller in Arabia, alluding to it, says, 'It sometimes happens, that, during an excessive heat, there comes a breath of air still more burning; and then both men and beasts being already overpowered and faint, this increase of heat entirely deprives them of respiration.

"Mr. Bruce refers several times, in his 'Travels,' to this burning wind. He says, 'We had no sooner got into the plains, than we felt great symptoms of the Simoom; and about a quarter before twelve, our prisoner first, and then Idris, called out, 'The Simoom! The Simoom! My curiosity would not suffer me to fall down without looking behind me ; about due south, a little to the east, I saw the coloured haze, as before. It seemed now to be rather less compressed, and to

What does Isaiah represent the Almighty as saying? What is supposed by many? What does a traveller in Arabia say of the Simoom? What does Mr. Bruce sav?